You know the scout motto, “be prepared” and the sage advice, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” But did you know that one priest in Washington D.C. is holding a free online webinar on August 31 for priests, religious and church members on how to appropriately deal with the aftermath of a terrorist attack or a grand-scale disaster.
Monsignor Stephen Rossetti is a psychologist as well as a priest, and he is the past president of the St. Luke Institute. He experienced a massive-scale, devastating event first-hand in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. He was sent in to help priests in Biloxi, Mississippi. He knows first-hand what it feels like to be overwhelmed trying to help a community struggling with intense shock, grief, suffering, anger, and lack of essentials such as food, lodging and shelter.
“It’d be foolish for us to think that it’s not going to happen to us,” Msgr. Rossetti said in an interview with Catholic News Service. “Look at the number of dioceses (in the U.S.) in the last year that have been directly affected by terrorism and tragedies. I think every diocese, every order, should have, not only training, but also a plan…” Each diocese should ask the question: “What are we going to do if downtown in our city a hundred people are shot and killed? Who’s going to do what?” Msgr. Rossetti added.
A training Msgr. Rossetti gave to priests in Florida in September 2015 proved providential. Less than a year later, in June 2016, at least one of those attending priests, Fr. Miguel Gonzalez, pastor of St. John Vianney Catholic parish and vicar for priests in the Diocese of Orlando, was called to help families after the horrific Orlando nightclub shooting that left 49 dead and 50 wounded.
The training, Fr. Gonzalez told Catholic News Service, had prepared him mentally and spiritually for the chaos, media swarm, the depth of the grief he witnessed and even his own reaction.
Among the things that were helpful in the training, according to Fr. Gonzales, is that small gestures—getting water for someone in shock or in grief, just being there, allowing those suffering to question God and to express anger—are so important. Just as important, find moments to regain your own bit of sanity, to “decompress” so that you’ll be able to continue to help others heal.
“What I learned (from the training) definitely clicked,” he said. “We were in a better place to meet needs but not disconnect from our needs,” Gonzalez said during a phone interview with Catholic News Service.
Not a bad idea for business owners and managers as well!
Msgr. Rossetti’s free online webinar is August 31: “Shepherding in Tragic Times: Caring for Self and Others in Trauma” via St. Luke Institute. For more information, go here: https://www.sliconnect.org/product/shepherding-tragic-times/